Sparks
by queenlunatic
Summary: One shots for Zutara Week 2016.
1. Chapter 1

**Day One - Dragons**

* * *

How had it come down to this?

One minute they'd been walking around the wide streets of Ba Sing Se, shopping around various booths at his Uncle's request to go out and relax.

And the next, Katara had dragged him into an obscure tattoo shop. How she had managed to drag him, he who was nearly twice her size, so easily was beyond him.

Well, not really. He had learned never to undermine the waterbender. She was stronger than she looked. And there was something about her eyes, the ones that held the depth of the ocean's and the danger of blue flame, that always made him cave.

Damned waterbender.

"Remind me again why you think this is a good idea?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

She threw a smile over his shoulder. "I've always thought they were beautiful, my GranGran used to tell me stories of marked warriors, the swirling ink patterns on their skin. Ancient tribe elders with stories on their bodies. I won't get a permanent one …."

There's a pause and then she continues, "not now anyways."

He looks around the room. Stuffy is the only way he can describe it. There's not much space to move around. The chair in the middle of the shop and table they're at now seem disproportionately large. And the owner is a burly man who seems to take up most of the room.

Katara is still too busy flipping over the pages of the book, gazing at every design intently and very, very slowly that he decides that maybe dying here wouldn't be a stretch. Then again he's always been dramatic, he's only begrudgingly begun to accept that.

"Found anything you'd like yet miss?" the owner asks gruffly. Good so Zuko isn't the only one getting impatient.

She shakes her head. "I can't really decide …. There's so much and I don't really have anything in mind."

The man settles back in his chair, a furrow in his thick grey brows. Zuko looks back at Katara. Her fingers skim over one particular flower drawing, but she shakes her head and flips the page.

"That one was nice, why not?" comes his voice to shake her from her thoughts.

"It's a panda-lily, they were the ones Aang used to give me." Her voice is straightforward, calm and betraying any emotion. But Zuko knows all too well.

"Hey, why don't you let me decide?"

She looks up at him, her hand falls away from the page. The shop owner groans quietly from behind them.

There's something mischievous in her eyes now, and a small wicked smile grazes her lips.

"Only if you get a matching one."

Suddenly any flowery designs fall from his thoughts. He knows she won't let him argue his way out of this …. And by now the only thing he wants is to get out of here. How is she not affected by the humidity in here.

… oh, right, waterbender.

He sighs in defeat. "Fine, but go sit in the chair so you don't see what I choose."

Her lips quirk up in a sweet smile. "Okay!"

She bounces over to the chair and even the owner's face softens as he watches her graceful movements.

Agni, that woman could have nations at her feet just with her beauty. Not that she doesn't have one already.

His eyes return to the book she left behind and he takes it into his hands without hesitation. He had seen one drawing that had stood out from the rest. He flipped to it and turned to the owner.

"We'll be having the same one," he goes over to where the man sits, "this one."

The man takes a look at Zuko and nods.

"Fitting." Then his eyes roam over to the waterbender. "And interesting indeed."

* * *

When they're both done Zuko can see that the sun is already descending over the horizon quickly.

Katara waits patiently on his right side, the "tattoo" on her left arm still drying down. She'd promised to only look once both of them were finished and luckily Zuko felt the man begin to just add in last details. He breathed out happily. Finally they were going to leave.

"Okay there young man, you're done. Now both of you go take a look."

Katara claps her hands with glee and takes Zuko's wrist and drags them over to the mirror in excitement.

He doesn't focus on this arm in the mirror, instead he looks at her.

Her eyes widen as she looks at her arm. He sincerely hopes this isn't in disgust. Her mouth opens ever so slightly before turning into a grin.

"It's beautiful," she murmurs as her eyes trace every detail.

The proud dragon flows from her shoulder to her forearm, with flames swirling around it. But, Zuko notes, the flames on her dragon curl more, they resemble waves more than flames.

His voice is shakier than he expects, "You do?"

Her grin turns into a smile. "Of course. Not my first choice but very mesmerizing indeed. I love it Zuko, really."

She kisses his cheek just at the point where flawless pale skin meets the roughness of his scar and then turns back to the mirror. Zuko feels the spot where her lips met his skin start to burn up. He looks back to the owner instead of looking back the mirror.

"How much will it be?"

The owner shakes his head. "Leave it on the house," he stops, "better yet, tell Iroh to send me some of his best tea blends for payment, I'd like some of that."

If there's one thing Zuko has come to learn, is that big, scary looking men, enjoy tea the most. That or his Uncle just has a larger tea cult than he ever thought possible. And somehow Zuko is able to place this man's face in his Uncle's tea shop, he's more than likely been one of Uncle's many customers since Zuko's been here.

"And oh," the man begins again, "congratulations." He sends a wink Zuko's way and this time Zuko feels his entire face flush. He quickly thanks the man, stammers is more of what it sounds like, as he grabs Katara by the arm and leads the way out **.**

* * *

A very special thank you to my wonderful beta - **_mochimistress_** \- for being extremely patient and loving with me always. Find her at Archive of Our Own for her wonderful writing abilities.

*inspiration from the new movie "Nerve" and the tattoo dare scene.


	2. Chapter 2

Day Two - Reincarnation

* * *

How many lives had their souls been able to find each other? They always started out the same. Strangers, with no other way of finding each other except of it being by fate. Their paths were never meant to cross but they always did somehow. They were always meant to be together. He was always a troubled soul and she was always the one who mended his ways. It was a pattern. And they knew it would repeat itself. It always did.

"I'll wait for you," he told her once when he had been the first to go.

"We'll find each other again," she told him as she took her final breaths the next time, "we always do."

And the cycle was not broken in the next life. As the now amber eyes fleetingly met the new azure eyes that day, the pattern was set in motion and it was only a matter of time before they remembered all the lives they had shared together.

"I've found you again," came the whispers of his past self.

"You always do," came hers.


	3. Chapter 3

Day 3 - Memories

* * *

I couldn't complain about my life, in a sense everything had happened the way it was supposed to in any case. But still, in my old age I became aware of all that I had and all that I had lost too.

I had found and trained the Avatar. And when the time had come, I had married him.

I had played a role in repairing the world and my tribe.

I had beautiful children and grandchildren.

In my youth and in my olden days I had strong friendships.

But there was always one thing that bothered me.

I was foretold that I was to marry a powerful bender, and one could say that I did. The Avatar was the most powerful bender of all.

And yet, it had never felt right. My heart had longed for another. Someone I couldn't have; someone who couldn't have me, no matter how much he wanted.

Things had been complicated then. Or maybe we had made them complicated by never giving ourselves the chance. But our lives went on. The only thing left was the memories of stolen glances, hugs that lingered too long to be considered friendly, and kisses of greetings that left my skin burning.

Memories of a love that could have been, but never was.


	4. Chapter 4

Day 4 & 5 - Lilac/Fever

* * *

She'd woken up with her body being consumed with a blazing, aching fever. It hadn't helped that she had managed to soak her bedsheets in sweat. Even bending that away had taken a lot of strength. It seemed funny to her that she, a master healer, was taken down a notch with a fever. The irony did not escape her.

Her eyes shifted towards the door as Zuko came into the room. Years of being Fire Lord had made him less emotionally expressive when in public, but in private Katara saw deep worry in the tightness of his mouth.

She had told him not to worry, that she would be fine. It was just a fever afterall. But Zuko would always be a worrier, no matter what.

"How are you feeling?" he asked placing a teacup on the bedside table.

"Better,'' she responded, "I should be fine in a day or two.''

"Why didn't you say anything when you started feeling sick Katara?"

"It's been a busy week Zuko, I didn't want to stop what I was doing and risk the council changing their mind. Both of us know that this trade agreement with the South has taken months to finally pass. I had to make sure everything was in order before they could make any quips about it.''

Zuko sighed, "Stubborn woman.''

She smirked, "That's why I make a good ambassador.''

Zuko rolled his eyes but smiled, "The best.''

She reached over for the teacup. The floral scent emanating from it was rather strong lovely. She didn't care, her throat was dry and she needed to drink something fast.

The initial taste, however, made her cringe slightly. She was sure Zuko noticed.

"How is it?" he asked as she took another sip.

"It's a little bitter." No point in lying when her reaction had given it away. "What flower is this?''

"Lilac,'' he responded. "Uncle mentioned once that it was one of the best teas for treating fevers, so I asked Yori to make it for you. If you don't like it I could go and request something else.''

"You remembered that?"

"Well yeah," he shrugged, "you remember important things for important people. And you're one of the most important people in my life Katara ….. but if you want I'll go and ask for something else. I'm sure there are more teas to help take care of a fever."

She shook her head. His face was etched with worry and care but his eyes held something she tried to deny for weeks out of initial confusion. Love. He loved her and she knew. Her feelings were more than returned. Yet, it was still too early to early for them to move into a relationship with each other. Memories of Aang and Mai were still too fresh. Both knew from experience that rushing into something so serious was never a wise choice.

It was complicated now, but given time she didn't see a valid reason of why they couldn't be together.

A possible future in the Fire Nation didn't seem like a daunting idea at all for her. Just maybe the idea of suffering any future fevers in a place where the humidity was as high as the heat. But if she had Zuko by her side to care for her like he was doing now she wouldn't mind one bit.

"No need.'' She took another sip and found that it wasn't as bitter anymore. "Thank you Zuko.''

* * *

couldn't write a single (coherent) thing for each prompt individually so I decided to combine them.

xoxoxo


	5. Chapter 5

Day 6 & 7 - Coffee/Candles

* * *

She had always taken her coffee the same way. A spoonful of sugar and two creams, cooled down and right before any important event.

 _"To keep me more than alert, tea doesn't cut it sometimes.''_

It was a partial truth, but trully it had just been an excuse to drink the rare novelty. Back when coffee had been something new and very, very expensive even the royal family couldn't afford to always keep it around. There was a country in need of repairs (and an entire world in need of compensation) that both he and Katara were staunch on not letting the royal family seem frivolous in the slightest. Coffee had then been something she kept around for just special occasions, a treat just for her.

But now, decades later it was just as common as bagged tea (Iroh would have shuddered at the thought) and anyone could have it in their homes. The palace kept it in regular stock now, their Asha being particularly fond of the drink. 'Ever her mother's daughter,' he thought.

He'd admittedly never really enjoyed it. Tonight he would drink it just for her, just the way she liked it.

"Hi, Zuko here,'' he said as he kneeled infront of her memorial, "to think, we'd be celebrating fifty years of marriage tonight and you, you'd be drinking this.'' He held up the cup filled with black coffee. "Now let's see, how did you like it?"

He reached into his robe and pulled out a small bag of sugar and a spoon.

* * *

" _Sugar always goes first, Zuko, that's a rule,'' she told him._

" _Since when is that a rule?''_

" _Since I said it was.'' She grinned taking a spoon out of the drawer. "Just a spoonful. And then you swirl it around until the sugar dissolves, just like that!''_

" _Yes I understand the dynamic.'' He smirked. "I did work at a tea shop for a while.''_

" _Yeah well that was a **tea** shop.''_

" _Hot leaf water, hot bean water, I see no difference.''_

* * *

He let the coffee finish swirling around as he took the spoon out. Reaching back again into his robe he took the two little containers of cream out.

* * *

" _You know, I was skeptical about cream in coffee at first.'' She poured one cream into the coffee. "But now I'm hooked. And look! I can make little coffee art from it.''_

 _She shoved the mug into his sphere of vision, and sure enough the cream had swirled into the shape of a flame._

" _You never fail to impress me, dear.'' He kissed the top of her head. "Now come on we're already late to the dinner with your father and the other water tribe representatives.''_

" _No wait, I take it with two creams! You can't make me skimp out on the second cream!'' She added the second with much more haste, her fingers moving quicker to make a new design. "Now look.''_

 _Swirled around the top of the now lighter colored coffee was their intertwined initials._

* * *

Pouring the first cream into the coffee he murmured, ''I can't make any pretty artsy things with this now love, I'm sorry.''

He watched as the cream made the black coffee slightly lighter in color. It moved about the coffee like the water she used to bend around herself when she would dance. She had left many crowds awestruck, and plenty of women jealous with her grace. She had made him fall deeper in love with her every time.

When he saw it disappear he added the second one, this time he moved the mug around to help it disperse quicker. There was little time left now, and he needed it to cool down ever so.

* * *

" _Tell me again why you don't drink it while it's still hot?''_

" _Well I don't want to burn my tongue off. Unlike you, firebender, I can't drink something straight out of the boiling stage.''_

* * *

He set the cup down and lit the candles. Soft light glowed on the white marble likeness of his late wife, the mother of his children, the love of his life. The coffee had just turned right, the way she always drank it and in perfect time.

The moon had barely come up. They had gotten married under a full moon, surrounded by candles. Tonight's moon was but a sliver wedge in the night sky and there were only five candles, but it would do.

"To us darling,'' he toasted.


End file.
